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Nick had been enjoying team bonding night, right up until the floorboards started denting his kneecaps. They were watching The Breakfast Club, which was an excellent movie, but Aiden had ruthlessly banished the freshmen to the floor. Something about babies.
Somewhere around the middle of the movie, the air shifted. Nick felt a sudden, heavy pressure sink right into the dip of his collarbone.
He froze. His breath hitched in his throat.
Slowly, carefully, he cut his eyes downward. A mop of neat, dark hair was pressed directly against his cotton shirt. It was Seiji. His eyes were shut tight, his chest rising and falling in slow, rhythmic hitches. The most distant, cold, and aggressively rude fencer on the entire East Coast was currently nodding off on Nick’s shoulder.
A wave of heat rushed up Nick's neck, turning his ears a violent shade of red. He locked his spine into a rigid, unmoving post. He didn't dare breathe. Surely Seiji would wake up by the time the credits rolled.
Except for one glaring problem.
He didn't.
When the screen faded to black and the credits shone on the screen, the team yawned and got up. The harsh overhead lights snapped on, making everyone squint. But Seiji didn't even flinch. He just drifted deeper, his brow furrowing slightly as he leaned more of his weight into Nick's side.
For a solid minute and a half, the entire Kings Row team stood in a silent semi-circle, staring down at them like they were inspecting a rare museum exhibit.
Nick swallowed hard. He reached up a trembling finger and lightly tapped the tip of the sleeping boy's nose.
“Seiji," Nick whispered, his voice cracking slightly. "Hey. You wanna get up?”
Seiji just let out a soft, tiny sigh, completely dead to the world.
Nicholas Cox, the undisputed king of terrible, impulsive decisions, looked at his teammates, looked at the sleeping prodigy, and made a choice. He slipped one arm beneath the crook of Seiji’s knees and the other securely behind his shoulders.
Gritting his teeth, he scooped Seiji upward, and braced for the inevitable punch to the face.
To his absolute shock, Seiji didn't move. He just instinctively curled inward, his hands just barely clutching the front of Nick's hoodie for balance as he remained fast asleep.
Booby snapped a picture, trying not to giggle with all of the force he could muster. “This one’s going in the team gallery!”
Nick looked up, giving the team a tired but determined look. “I guess we’re out for the night. Night, guys!” He smiled, and then adjusted the weight in his arms, face still burning.
He got back to their room and slowly laid Seiji down on the bed. Seiji looked peaceful. His features were softened and relaxed, and his breathing was deep, and easy. He looked truly calm for once.
Nick smiled, then went to brush his teeth.
———
The next morning was surprising, to say the least. That was because Nick had woken up before Seiji. It was four thirty in the morning, which was thirty minutes after Seiji should’ve been up. Five minutes before he should’ve been down at the gym, working with Dmytro.
Nick figured Seiji could use a day off, though. When he called Dmytro, not to anyone’s shock, he also agreed.
Later, when Seiji woke up, he went into a near panic attack because he had missed a practice. Nick calmly explained that Dmytro had encouraged the break, and that he would be okay missing one practice.
“It’s not okay, Nicholas. I need to beat… him. I need to practice every day,” Seiji said quietly.
Suddenly, a beep emerged from their phones. The team group chat. Bobby had messaged them the picture of Seiji from the previous night.
Nicholas could pinpoint the exact moment Seiji had opened the message. He went a deep red color, and if they had been in a cartoon, he would’ve had steam coming out of his ears. It was cute.
Nick snapped a picture of his roommate, who was currently slack-jawed and staring at his phone. He sent THAT to the group chat with the caption, “bros honest reaction”.
Seiji glared at him with disdain. Nick just smiled and laughed.
———
Seiji knew one thing for sure. He wasn’t going to fall asleep during team bonding night again.
———
He proved himself wrong very quickly a few weeks later, at the next movie night.
He had prepared. He wore uncomfortable clothing that was sure to keep him awake, he had splashed water on his face, and he had even drank nearly a pot of coffee.
It apparently wasn’t enough, though.
They decided on another exponentially boring movie- Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. As usual, the upperclassmen got the beds, leaving Nicholas and Seiji on the ground. And as usual, Seiji felt his eyes closing on their own, and Nicholas felt a familiar weight on his shoulder. It was welcome, and ever so slightly unsurprising.
The team was shocked to see Seiji asleep again. Everyone thought it had been a one-time ordeal.
Nicholas picked his sleeping teammate up again, and grinned widely as he walked out.
Something was different this time, though.
Seiji blinked awake groggily, and took a moment to realize where he was. He realized he was off the ground and immediately put his arms around Nicholas’s neck.
Obviously, Nicholas noticed this, and went to put Seiji down.
Seiji immediately curled his hands tighter around Nick. “No,” he murmured softly into Nicholas’s ear.
Nick was amused by this, but he was trying to make sure Seiji couldn’t see the flaming red on the top of his ears.
“Okay…? Sure,” he said with a small smile.
Seiji let out a contented noise, and tucked himself closer into Nick’s body. He seemed to have fallen back into a deep sleep. That was both a blessing and a curse, though. It let Nicholas sit with his thoughts a little longer, which started being more of a problem than a solution.
Why didn’t he want to be put down?
It was probably just a sleep thing, Nick told himself, but he was also freakishly good at overthinking everything.
They got to their room, and Nick tried to put Seiji down with ease. Except he couldn’t. Another problem had arose.
Seiji wasn’t letting go. He had a vise-like grip on Nicholas’s shoulders. Seiji blinked his eyes open, and muttered another word.
“Stay.”
Nick’s face went red, and it stayed that way for nearly the whole night. But he stayed true to his word, and let himself stay with Seiji.
———
The next morning, Nick sat for a second, still in a daze, and wondered why he was so warm. He typically ran hot, but this… this was different. Better. His arm felt tingly, as if he slept on it wrong.
And then it clicked.
———
Seiji woke up, feeling content. He was warm, for some reason. Then he realized he was pressed up against…
Oh.
OH.
———
They both leapt out of the bed at the same time and immediately went separate directions. They were both incredibly comfortable with what had happened last night. Too comfortable, they might add.
———
Later, at practice, they tried to ignore each other, but that got increasingly harder as practice went on.
It wasn’t Seiji’s fault that he liked to watch Nicholas fence. He was just trying to point out the problems in his teammate’s form. Obviously.
Seiji also noticed the way Nicholas’s hair got messed up more every time he put the mask back on. And sure, it would be nice to rake his hands through it. Seiji thought about that for a minute. It wasn’t his fault Nicholas’s hair was so soft.
Yeah, that was it.
Nick was having a moral crisis (if you could call it that) too. He wasn’t watching Seiji for any reason other than fencing. And sure, he may have noticed that Seiji looked rather… attractive, in his fencing gear. But that could’ve been thought by anyone. It wasn’t his fault.
Yeah. That was definitely it.
Aiden watched this from across the room with near glee. He made a mental note to consult them on their own to figure out what the hell was happening.
Something was there, he knew that.
Something was presenting itself enough to have Bobby and Gene exchanging glances, whispers, and dollar bills, too. Betting wasn’t a bad idea, but it certainly wasn’t a good one. Coach pretended not to see them, and instead called for a water break.
———
That night, they still weren’t talking to each other. They both got ready for bed, and they laid down separately without as much as a glance at the other.
Neither of them could sleep, though. Seiji kept tossing and turning, and it was digging inside Nick’s ears. Nicholas kept sighing, which kept Seiji up.
Eventually, Nick got tired of it. He got up, and the mattress gave a small creak. He threw open the curtain, and crossed his arms.
“You’re keeping me up,” he said with a frown.
Seiji looked unimpressed. “You’re the one who’s keeping me awake,” he muttered.
Nick walked across the taped line, and sat on Seiji’s bed with a smirk.
Seiji looked and felt like his only two moods at the moment were baffled and offended.
“Why are you on my bed?” He demanded this while throwing his hands in the air with exasperation.
Nick looked serious. “I want to kiss you goodnight,” he said with utter conviction.
Seiji opened his mouth to speak, but the words caught in his throat. He wanted to do this; that was for sure.
He came to a logical conclusion. If you can’t say it, then show it.
And so he leaned in, and pressed Nicholas’s lips against his.
It felt right, to say it in a word. It was the perfect balance; the two of them. The fiery passion, and the cool intensity. Two halves in a whole.
Nick knew that nothing could be better than this, the feeling of Seiji’s lips on his, their fingers slotted together, the feeling of being whole.
It wasn’t a dream, somehow. That was the weirdest part. Somehow, it wasn’t a fictional reality from a happier place in their minds.
Somehow, it was real.
It was all the small things that counted, after all.